Eeny Meeny Miney Moe Catch A Biden By The Toe

[omega minimo]

Rather than black and white, either/or thinking, can we all learn something from the Biden/Obama flap?

The first step in addressing racism is recognizing our own. Having heard the tape of Sen. Joe Biden’s comments to a reporter (with a lot of clamor in the background-- is this the equivalent of the “Dean scream” captured on an intimate close-up and scrutinized under a global microscope?) it sounds from his tone like he was expressing the affirmative of Obama’s public persona and candidacy. It didn’t sound like there was a racist intent in his words.

However, white people of conscience are required to recognize when we are caught up by the subconscious expressions of embedded racism in our “innocuous,” unexamined, clichés or unintentional phrasing-- when and if it occurs.

Will Mr. Biden review his comments and honestly consider whether what he said is offensive (aside from being inaccurate, starting with “the first”) even if that’s not what he intended?

That’s all any of us can do.

I saw Obama on the news yesterday, in a committee hearing, asking a question of a witness that probably was very astute, informed and important and made my eyes/ears glaze over.

Many of us have a problem with Obama which may-- unfortunately-- be consistent with the “first” phenomenon that Senator Biden was praising.

He’s too slick!! (Translation = “clean” “articulate”?) If this is someone that thrilled people at the 2004 Democratic convention with his passion, it is also someone that has come to strike many of us as a “player”-- not really passionate as much as he is practiced; aware of the telegenic requirements of the new millennium and expert in the traditional way-with-words that serves any attorney or political wannabe.

When Biden referred to Obama as “clean” and “articulate” in the context of a “firsts”-- are we talking about a whiff of “passes as white”? The “first” comment ignores/discounts the existence or previous African American candidates for the American Presidency-- including women.

When I see quotes from Barbara Jordan, I still hear her voice, maybe stronger and more eloquently than any other public figure (besides Martin Luther King, Jr.) She could make even the word "innocuous" ring with power down the recorded halls of history.........

When I heard Obama on the news last night, I couldn’t recall anything he said-- immediately after he said it-- for the completely bloodless, hyper-articulated, poli-speak that was droning from his face. He “talks white” and gods forbid that’s what Biden was subconsciously praising.



link to brilliant piece by HamdenRice

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=101735&mesg_id=101735

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

1. Obama, Is Most Definitely, The Real Deal.

[omega minimo]

2. .

[omega minimo]

3. The first step in addressing racism is recognizing our own.

[omega minimo]

4. I apologize for yet another "Let's all learn something and take responsibility" OP

:hi:

[rpgamerd00d]

5. Never Ask Someone To Clarify The Meaning of What They Say.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x101836

[omega minimo]

6. Sometimes what they meant and how it sounded (and what it revealed) are not the same

sometimes it reveals subconscious assumptions with unintended consequences.............. ;)

[rpgamerd00d]

7. So, you know what he meant, even though he clarified it later.

Making him wrong, and you right.

Got it.

That's just such a liberal/open minded attitude.
Way to go.
:eyes:

[omega minimo]

8. Didn't say that. Do you need me to clarify?

:evilgrin:





Did you read the OP?








Is that what your thread is about? :wow: